Marburg School Research Articles

Platonism in the Philosophical Systems of Thinkers Associated with the Baden and Marburg School: Review of Selected Positions

Platonism in the Philosophical Systems of Thinkers Associated with the Baden and Marburg School: Review of Selected Positions

ВЛИЯНИЕ ФИЛОСОФИИ ГЕОРГА ЗИММЕЛЯ НА ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННУЮ ТЕОРИЮ ВИЛЬГЕЛЬМА ВОРРИНГЕРА

This article critically analyses the main theses of Wilhelm Worringer's paper “Abstraction and Empathy” to show that they correspond to the neo-Kantian views of Georg Simmel and the philosophy of life presented in his later works. Simmel's texts do not provide detailed explanations of the transcendental method or categories. To ensure an accurate interpretation of Simmel's ideas, his works are examined in the context of the methodology of Hermann Cohen of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, under whose direct influence he was. Only then are they compared with Worringer's text. To avoid any misunderstanding regarding Worringer's application of neo-Kantianism, the article clearly outlines Kant's original teachings, which the art historian used as a foundation for his own terminology.

Обзор современных российских исследований философии Германа Когена

The review covers scholarly publications devoted to the philosophy of Hermann Cohen, the head of the Marburg School of Neo­Kantianism, written by Russ­ ian researchers in the period between 2000 and 2023. Although Cohen commanded unquestioned authorityamong Russian philosophers of his time — among them some followers and pupils — there was no systematic and substantive study of his work in pre­revolutionary Russia. The review below attempts to show the evidentgrowth of interest in Cohen’s philosophy in the last quarter of the century. The teaching of the German philosopher who lived and worked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries still attracts lively in- terest among Russian philosophers today. Witness the multiple monographs, articles and reports focusing on Cohen’s theory of cognition, his ethics and aesthetics, the search for convergences between the Christian religion and the Judaic tradition, the concept of the philosophy of culture, the relationship between morality and law and many other issues. The review pays particular attention to the works on the reception of Cohen’s philosophy in Russia, as well as previously unpublished translations and archive materials which were part of the scholarly discourse of his time but remained unpublished and then forgotten. The interest of modern Russ­ ian scholars in the work of Cohen does not only point to his importance for the history of philosophy, but attests to the relevance of his ideas whose potential has yet to be fully revealed. The review may serve as a guide to the published literature on Cohen for the students of his philosophy and for all those interested in Neo­Kantianism in general, thereby contributing to the development of such a field in philosophy as Cohen studies.

‘Left-Kantianism’ and the ‘Scientific Dispute’ between Rudolf Stammler and Hermann Cohen

Abstract This paper argues that the ‘scientific dispute’ between Hermann Cohen and Rudolf Stammler is symptomatic of a philosophical movement of left-wing Kant interpretations at the turn of the twentieth century. By outlining influential predecessors that shaped Cohen’s and Stammler’s thinking, I show that their Kantian justifications of socialism differ regarding their conception of law, history, and the political implications that follow from their practical philosophies. Against scholars who suggest that the Marburg School’s view on socialism was a coherent school of thought, I introduce the concept of ‘left-Kantianism’ as an open term that includes a wide variety of novel socialist approaches to Kant at the time.

Kant and Marburg School

After the completion of I. Kant’s “Copernican” turn in metaphysics, all subsequent European philosophy to one degree or another was under his influence. The purpose of the article is to consider the reception and transformation of the Kantian theoretical philosophy by the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. It is necessary to analyze the reasons for H. Cohen's and P. Natorp’s interpretation of Kant's criticism. To do this, one should consider (i) internalist and (ii) externalist factors in the formation of the Marburg School. Neo-Kantianism, on the one hand, emerged as a response to materialism, naturalism, and post-Kantian German idealism. In addition, the Marburg School was strongly influenced by the change in the scientific paradigm in mathematical natural science at the end of the 19th century. The justification by the Marburgers of Kant’s a priori doctrine presupposed thematization, first of all, of: a) purity of thought; b) systematic unity of thought and experience; c) the orientation of philosophy to the “fact of science”; d) transcendental method. As a result, the Marburg School interpreted the Kantian concept of the unity of consciousness; abandoned the principle of synthetic (real) unity of consciousness in favor of systematic (logical) unity; substantiated the purity of scientific thinking; put forward the requirement of orientation of philosophy to the “fact of science”; developed the concept of the origin of thinking (Ursprung); abandoned the idea of “givenness” of the subject of knowledge and proved its “assignment”; changed the understanding of the essence and functions of the transcendental method; put forward the concept of thinking as “generation” (“production”); formulated a new understanding a priori. The changes that took place in the 19th century in philosophy, mathematical natural science and mathematical sciences led to a sharp activation of constructivism. It can be concluded that Kant’s epistemological paradigm was realistic constructivism. Pure constructivism became the paradigm of the Marburg School.

Nicolai Hartmann and José Ortega y Gasset: An overview of an intellectual relationship based on the correspondence of two philosophers from 1907–1912

This article is of both a historical and philosophical nature. It aims to present the intellectual relationship between the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset and one of the most influential German thinkers of the first half of the twentieth century, Nicolai Hartmann. It is based on hitherto unknown and unpublished correspondence that the philosophers conducted intermittently between 1907 and 1912. The correspondence was found in the archives of the José Ortega y Gasset – Gregorio Marañón Foundation in Madrid along with other letters that show the relationship between the Spanish author and representatives of the neo-Kantian Marburg School, including its founder Hermann Cohen, as well as Paul Natorp, Ernst Cassirer, and Heinz Heimsoeth.

«Философия математики» Германа Когена, или Что не так с марбургским методом

Neo-Kantianism in general and the Marburg school are becoming an increas­ingly popular subject of research both in the Russian and global academic com­munity. Thanks to the meticulous archival work of H. Holzhey, K.Ch. Köhnke, U. Sieg and other scientists, rich historical and philosophical dimension of this phenomenon has been discovered. As a result, neo-Kantianism is no longer read strictly through the prism of an (unsuccessful) attempt to scientize philosophy in the image of natural scientific knowledge. At the same time, it seems interest­ing to analyze this attempt from the point of view of its internal content. The ob­ject of this study is mainly H. Cohen’s “Das Princip der Infinitesimal-Methode und seine Geschichte”, conjugated with the historical and theoretical context of psychological discussions. The term “Cohen’s method” in its early temporal localization of the beginning of the 1880’s, we expand to the “Marburg method”. It is based on a functional interpretation of the process of cognition using the ex­ample of infinitesimal calculus. Despite the declared opposition to the psycho­logical programs of philosophy, we believe that Cohen could not achieve this task at theoretical level. The intuitive definition of mathematical entities in gen­eral and the usage of a psychophysical mathematical model is an unsuccessful way of countering psychological programs of philosophy. At the same time, we believe that despite the outward exoticism of the philosopher’s conclusions, the desire to “dereify” and “denaturalize” the concept of reality finds full expression in his model, which is extremely important for the formation of the Marburg Neo-Kantianism. Reconstruction and comprehension of what we conditionally call "the philosophy of mathematics of Hermann Cohen" allows us to better un­derstand the essence of the theoretical superstructure that he created over the form of mathematical derivation.

Friedrich Albert Lange’s theory of values

ABSTRACT Friedrich Albert Lange is usually regarded as a representative of physiological neo-Kantianism or as a forerunner of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. In this paper I try to reconstruct Lange’s theory of values to argue that his philosophy is better framed as an intermediate point in the development of the two-world theory (facts/values) between Hermann Lotze and Southwestern neo-Kantianism.

Из русского «Марбурга» в США: старое вино в новые меха?

The conceptualization of ideological influences in philosophy is usually unidi­rectional: from tradition-source to tradition-recipient. The history of Russian neo-Kantianism demonstrates other possibilities for conceptualizing philosophi­cal reception: documenting the facts of reverse influence forces us to look for new ways of interpreting this philosophical movement. The uniqueness of the his­torical situation, which cannot be ignored when analyzing the fate of Russian Neo-Kantianism, makes it necessary for the historian of ideas to turn to the study of intellectual biographies, professional connections, and in general the “sphere of conversation” in which the transformation of the ideological horizon took place. The emigration of intellectuals from Russia in the late 1910s and early 1920s, termed the “philosophers’ ships”, not only provoked unprecedented exis­tential shifts in individual personal trajectories, but also gave rise to new intel­lectual phenomena, conceptual networks and cultural-institutional clusters. Re­constructing the intellectual biographies of two Russian thinkers, Simon Kaplan and Jacob Klein, whose philosophical development took place in the symbolic Marburg, we uncover difficult problems of self-identity, intellectual relevance, and creative fulfillment in emigration. Kaplan, fascinated by the philosophy of religion of Hermann Cohen, head of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, found himself in demand in the United States in the innovative “Great Books” educational program as an expert on Kant and the Bible and as the translator of Cohen’s major work on the philosophy of religion into English. Klein brought to the New World a reputation as an expert in the history of ancient mathematics and Renaissance science, revealed himself as an expert in Plato’s philosophy and an excellent organizer of the educational process, and contemporary research in­terest turns to him as a phenomenologist.

Zwischen Faktizität und Geltung. Zur transzendentalphilosophischen Vermittlung von Prinzip und Tatsache bei Richard Hönigswald

The article presents Hönigswalds version of transcendental philosophy, putting focus on the mediation of epistemological principles and empirical states of affairs. It is shown, that Hönigswald provides an original account of transcendental philosophy, that goes far beyond the common ones, that we know from the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism.

Герман Коген об отношениях иудаизма и христианства

The article presents an analysis of the religious and philosophical views of Hermann Cohen, one of the most prominent German and Jewish philosophers of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, the founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. The author substantiates certain changes in these views, characteristic of two periods of his work, in the second of which, in contrast to the first, religious issues become decisive. In the first of the highlighted periods, the Marburg philosopher substantiates the idea that Judaism is a part of German culture, rejects any form of not only anti-Semitism, but also Zionism, strives to point out the obvious difference between cultural and religious assimilation, emphasizing the possibility of the existence of a single German nation based on religious differences between Christians and Jews. Cohen defends his conviction that the German spirit is strengthened precisely through the religious originality of Judaism, by the Jews defending their religious uniqueness. In the second period of his work, that is, since 1912, the Marburg philosopher is making more and more efforts to propose rational grounds for distinguishing Judaism from Christianity and to substantiate here the greater contribution of the religion of Judaism to the cultural progress of mankind. The author emphasizes that with all the features and changes in Cohen’s attitude to religion and in his assessment of the nature of the interaction between Judaism and Christianity, two main features remained dominant and unchanged. Firstly, it is devotion to one’s religious beliefs and upholding their uniqueness and dignity, and, secondly, it is the confidence in the need to unite the efforts of Judaism and Christianity in the social transformation of society on the basis of morality. The Marburg philosopher saw no contradiction between the desire for recognition of Jewish religious identity and the striving for a harmonious relationship between Judaism and Christianity.

Эпистемологическая модель И.Ф. Гербарта и ее влияние на возникновение неокантианской теоретико-познавательной программы

The theoretical heritage of J.F. Herbart is still an underinvestigated page in the history of world philosophical thought. The epistemological component of his works has not been the object of close attention until now, and the appeal to Herbart’s texts was carried out mainly in the context of Herbertarian pedagogy. The article is devoted to the epistemological model of Herbart and its influence on the formation of the neo-Kantian program of philosophy at the end of the 19th century. It is suggested that Herbart anticipated neo-Kantian attempts to sci­entize philosophy by proposing modeling as a method of constructing a philo­sophical theory: Herbart’s program was based on the mathematical method and consistent deterministic construction. The article also emphasizes that Herbart’s concept provided a reliable basis for the central problems of neo-Kantian thought: discussions about extensive and intensive quantities, their measurabil­ity, infinitesimal magnitude, mechanistic theory of perception, the requirement to translate philosophical concepts into the language of mathematics as a source of verification of the entire theory. Herbart identified a significant array of factual material, concentrated around the mechanics of cognition, and demonstrated a new for his time way of working with a text, the analysis of which was based not on a reference to the “historical” Kant, his vision or language, but modeling and the corresponding redefinition of the basic provisions of the entire system. Even though neo-Kantians criticized Herbart’s conclusions, his mathematical psychology became an essential consolidating factor for the emergence of the Marburg school.

Ernst Cassirer’s Legacy: History of Philosophy and History of Science

AbstractThe paper is devoted to an overview of Cassirer’s work both as historian of philosophy and historian of science. Indeed, the “intelletcual cooperation” between history of philosophy and history of science represents an essential feature of Cassirer’s style of philosophizing: while the roots of a wide exploration stretching from Renaissance thought to modern physics go back to the Neo-Kantianism of the Marburg School, the results of a similar cross-fertilization of research fields have deeply contributed to shaping new standards of inquiry. Cassirer’s relationship with the Warburg milieu in Hamburg and late in his life with the American intellectual scenario (for instance, with the “Journal of History of Ideas”) are surely worthy of closer investigation. Distinguished scholars such as Meyerson, Brunschvicg, Burtt, Koyré, Metzger, Lovejoy, Kristeller, have disussed, appreciated, critizised Cassirer’s still today fascinating studies devoted to Pico della Mirandola, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, to mention but a few. To explore some of these aspects focusing both on affinities and differences within a cosmpolitian intellectual community can provide a better understanding of philosophy and history of science in the first half of 20th century. Cassirer’s legacy requires, therefore, a new assessment.

Ernst Cassirer in Japanese Philosophy

AbstractThe primary goal of this paper is not to argue for the “influence” of Cassirer, but rather to make known the reception of Cassirer in Japanese philosophy, illustrate the interconnection between Cassirer’s critique of culture and that of Japanese philosophy, and hopefully spark interest in what might be a fruitful dialog between Cassirer scholars and those working in Japanese philosophy. Historically, the paper defines Japanese philosophy and makes known its engagement with Western philosophy and the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism and its project of a critique of culture during its own self-development. Systematically, the paper points to the possible interconnection between Cassirer’s critique of culture and that of Japanese philosophy and makes the case for a mutually productive dialog between Cassirer scholars and those working in Japanese philosophy. Implicitly, the paper attempted to show that an engagement with Japanese philosophy from the perspective of a critique of culture forces us to question the Western dichotomy between philosophy and religion and the importance of this for the further development of a non-Eurocentric critique of culture. And by extension, that a critique of culture must be cognitive of the historicity of the culture from which it speaks.

History of physics and the Platonic legacy: a problem in Marburg Neo-Kantianism

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that the interpretation of Kant's a priori in Marburg neo-Kantianism involved a historiographical problem concerning the Platonic interpretation of the history of exact sciences. According to Hermann Cohen, the history of modern science supports the philosophical view initiated by Plato and revived by Kant that ‘the diversity of things has to be dissolved in differences of ideas’ and thus points to the “victory of idealism” over empiricism and materialism. I first examine how Cohen and Paul Natorp tried to confirm this epistemological thesis in their historical research on Plato and modern physics. Then I focus on Cassirer's work, which provides the most extensive realization of this historiographical programme and, I submit, clearly shows the problematic gap between the ‘Platonic’ epistemology of the Marburg school and the historical reality of physics from Galileo to the early twentieth century.

Коген Герман

The article presents a sketch of the biography and work of Hermann Cohen, head of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism. It shows how wrong it is to think that Cohen reduced all philosophy to a theory of knowledge. At the same time, the theory of knowledge really occupied an important place in Cohen's system, and by knowledge he meant first of all mathematized natural science, although he paid attention to the notion of goal and its importance both for biology and philosophical system, contributing to unification of the doctrine of knowledge and ethics. A peculiarity of Cohen's understanding of idealism is shown: the latter becomes fruitful only when it does not lose sight of that which is distinct from reason, constitutes a difficulty for it, and thus sets a task for it, namely sensual data. It is analyzed how Cohen saw such idealism in Plato and Kant, as well as in the scientific revolution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in particular in the crisis of mechanistic understanding of matter and in A. Einstein's theory of relativity. The origins of Cohen's understanding of continuity, reality and their connection, as well as his understanding of the thing-in- itself are considered. Attention is drawn to the connection between Cohen's understanding of the infinite task of knowledge (approximation to the thing-in-itself) and his idea of humanity. The development of this idea in Cohen's ethics and aesthetics is presented. Transcendental freedom (as a thing-in-itself in general), from his point of view, cannot be a given distinctive feature of the subject, but remains an infinite task facing humanity as a whole. More details is given on Cohen's philosophy of religion, which became the final part of his system. Cohen defines his own notion of the religion of reason and explains its distinction from ethics. Religion of reason recognizes the irreducible self of the Other, repentance, redemption, and renewal. Although the religion of reason belongs to all humanity, it first begins to form and develop in Judaism. The Cohenian understanding of God, the religion of reason as ethical monotheism and the idea of the correlation between God and man are analyzed. It is shown that ethical monotheism in Cohen's understanding culminates in the idea of messianism.

Immanuel Kant and Herman Cohen’s philosophy of religion

The article analyzes the main characteristic features of the philosophy of religion of the founder of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism Hermann Cohen. Special attention is paid to Cohen’s criticism and reinterpretation of Kant’s “practical philosophy” from the point of view of the philosophy of religion: Cohen supplements and expands Kant’s provisions on moral law and moral duty, interpreting them as divine commandments. The authors emphasize the fundamental importance for Cohen of the “internal similarity” between Kant’s ethical teaching and the main provisions of Judaism. The sources of Kant’s own ideas about the Jewish tradition are shown, which include the work of Moses Mendelssohn “Jerusalem” and the “Theologicalpolitical treatise” by Baruch Spinoza. Cohen’s criticism of these works is analyzed an much attention is paid to the consideration of Cohen’s attitude to Spinoza’s philosophical legacy in general. The interpretation of the postulates of Judaism by Cohen (and their “inner kinship” with Kant’s moral philosophy) in ethical, logical, and political contexts is presented. Cohen’s understanding of such religious-philosophical and doctrinal phenomena as law, grace, Revelation, teaching, the Torah, messianism, freedom, the Old Testament and the New Testament, etc. is provided and analyzed. The main points of Cohen’s religious teaching as “ethical monotheism” are considered; in particular, the authors analyze his understanding of the idea of God as “the only one”, which is highlighted in the works of Paul Natorp. It is concluded that Cohen’s philosophy of religion, which is based on the postulates of Judaism as well as Kant’s “practical philosophy”, could be characterized by the terms “ethical monotheism”, “universalism” and “humanism”.

How Cassirer explains myth and other symbolic forms through semiotic functions

AbstractErnst Cassirer (1874–1945), Neo-Kantian philosopher of Marburg school, studies myth as a component of symbolic forms. He considers myth as the cornerstone of philosophy of culture as well as the source of such other forms as language, religion, art and science. Cassirer, applying an epistemological approach towards myths and other realms of human culture, argues that human beings experience the world through a mediated process. Of course, this mediated encounter with the world has different aspects in the evolving course of culture. These aspects are completely dependent upon the symbolic form through which man experiences his world. However, it seems what Cassirer puts forth as an explanation of the cultural evolution of mankind is basically influenced by his semiotic viewpoints. Therefore, the present article tries to find the theoretical resources of Cassirer’s thought and analyze his reasoning in this regard. Emphasizing Cassirer’s theoretical assumptions as well as his methodology, we have tried to better understand his claims about myth and other symbolic forms. It has been revealed that Cassirer’s theory is mainly shaped by his particular models of semiotic functions. Analyzing the semiotic functions of each specific form indicates that Cassirer has differentiated three independent functions. Each of these functions works on an expressive,Ausdrucken.representative,Darstellungen.or signifyingBedeutungen.basis and is respectively correspondent with myth, language, and science.

Философия религии Когена и Наторпа: спор о границе разума

The philosophy of religion as presented by Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, the founders and main representatives of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, is an important and at the same time controversial part of their philosophical systems. The discussion around the problems of religion began within the Marburg School and still continues among those who study that School. The reason for this is that “fitting” philosophical thinking about the phenomenon of religion into the classical triad of any system of philosophy, i. e. effectively formulating that phenomenon in logical concepts, ethical postulates and aesthetic principles touched the very foundations of that system. Drawing mainly on the rough notes and correspondence of Cohen and Natorp I argue that, in spite of internal and quite important differences over the problems of religion and its place in philosophical constructions, Cohen and Natorp, first, retained their commitment to critical idealism and remained loyal to their philosophical school to the end and, second, followed the principle of mutual respect, preserving their professional and human sympathy for each other. Besides, I substantiate my assertion that Marburg Neo-Kantians had different concepts of the special place of religion in the system of philosophy. The specific nature of this difference warrants the discussion not only of the boundary of reason and rationality but adds new dimensions to that boundary, filling it with content and thus broadening the very sphere of critical idealism. In the course of the discussion of the problems of religion, Paul Natorp (in a more immediate and extended fashion) and Hermann Cohen (largely potentially) stake a claim to projects for the serious transformation of philosophy which they tried to implement in their later works.

Hermann Cohen i Ernst Cassirer w relacji mistrz–uczeń

Hermann Cohen and Ernst Cassirer in the Master–Disciple Relationship of AuthorityThe aim of the paper is to analyze the relationship between the authority of the master and the disciple occurring between the two main representatives of the Neo-Kantianism of the Marburg School, Hermann Cohen and Ernst Cassirer. The analysis is based on the pragmatic-logical model of authority developed by Jozef M. Bocheński within the framework of his logic of authority in application to research on the basic relations taking place in the history of philosophy. The purpose of the analysis is to verify the hypothesis of the existence of the master– disciple authority relationship between the mentioned representatives of the school and to explain its logical consequences of the basis of historical-philosophical research of this particular philosophical formation.